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Chinese AI Models Outshine US Rivals, Disrupt Silicon Valley
13 Nov
Summary
- Chinese AI models like Alibaba's Qwen and Moonshot's Kimi K2 gaining popularity in US
- Chinese models offer lower costs and comparable performance to US counterparts
- US export controls on advanced chips fail to stop China's AI progress
As of November 2025, Chinese AI models are quickly becoming integral to the operations of American companies, earning praise from a growing list of tech leaders. The rapid ascent of Chinese developers like Alibaba, Z.ai, Moonshot, and MiniMax has highlighted their competitive edge in offering "open" language models at much lower costs than their US rivals.
This trend has cast a critical light on the US's efforts to stunt China's tech sector through export controls on advanced chips, which have failed to stop Chinese developers from approaching the capabilities of Silicon Valley's tech giants. Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky and Social Capital CEO Chamath Palihapitiya have both publicly praised Chinese AI models for their speed, performance, and affordability compared to offerings from OpenAI and Anthropic.
Industry data suggests Chinese AI tools are gaining significant popularity, with several models from Chinese firms taking up spots among the 20 most-used models globally. Experts believe the success of these Chinese models demonstrates the failure of US export controls to limit China's AI progress, as Chinese companies have become more resourceful in building better models that run on older-generation hardware.
